On the second Thursday of every month, enjoy the fun as well as the mental and physical health benefits of dancing with others! Are you yearning for more community engagement? More joy? More cultural activities? More exercise? We’ve got it all covered in one stop — come along and dance! (And then join us on the 21st of each month to sing too.)

No experience required: each session starts at 7:00 pm with a 30-minute lesson, and then dances are “called” from 7:30-10 (this means the steps are called out loud so you can follow along). All levels of experience are welcome.

]]>One Year with the Revels Directors’ Bloghttps://revelsdc.org/2018/revels-directors-blog-2018/
Fri, 28 Dec 2018 09:13:56 +0000http://revelsdc.org/?p=8545Posted by Washington Revels
In our January 2018 e-newsletter we announced a new monthly blog series, featuring letters, essays, and musings from the directorial staff at Washington Revels; the first post in this series was published in February. As 2019 begins, we thought we'd look back at all 11 blog posts (and group them in one convenient place!). The Directors' Blog showcases a range of voices and topics, and highlights many facets]]>Posted by Washington RevelsJanuary 1, 2019

In our January 2018 e-newsletter we announced a new monthly blog series, featuring letters, essays, and musings from the directorial staff at Washington Revels; the first post in this series was published in February. As 2019 begins, we thought we’d look back at all 11 blog posts (and group them in one convenient place!). The Directors’ Blog showcases a range of voices and topics, and highlights many facets of Revels — some well known, but others less familiar. Enjoy re-reading these posts, catch up on any you might have missed, and stay tuned for more in 2019!

]]>Heartfelt Thankshttps://revelsdc.org/2018/heartfelt-thanks/
Thu, 27 Dec 2018 08:00:21 +0000http://revelsdc.org/?p=8525A guest post by Susan Swope
Susan Swope and her wife Shirley live near Gettysburg, PA and have been attending The Christmas Revels for nearly 20 years. Last Spring, Susan took a chance during our Spring Gala and submitted a winning bid to appear in a performance of the 2018 production. This is her story.]]>A guest post by Susan SwopeDecember 27, 2018

Susan Swope and her wife Shirley live near Gettysburg, PA and have been attending The Christmas Revels in Washington for nearly 20 years. Last Spring, Susan took a chance during our Gala auction and submitted a winning bid to appear as a guest performer — in full costume and makeup — in one show of our 2018 production, singing on all audience sing-alongs and participating in various scenes on stage. This is her story.

Dear Revelers,

This morning I awoke from another dream that I am still with you, onstage and back, singing and chatting, and milling about amid all the excitement.

Shirley and I first learned of Revels perhaps 35 years ago, when we found a used LP of the original Boston Revels at Second Story Books. Over the years we would be tantalized by Mary Cliff’s playing of a Revels piece on her Saturday night folk music show, “Traditions.” Shirley would imagine staging our own Revels with the chorus we belonged to. And I would point out how unrealistic that was. We came to your first Nordic show in the 1990s and have been coming ever since. Usually I take advantage of the early ticket priority for donors and organize a group. Throughout all those years, I harbored a fantasy of being in The Christmas Revels, but I don’t think I mentioned it even to Shirley. It wasn’t realistic: I would never pass the audition, and I live two hours away.

I have never attended your fundraising Gala. But last Spring, I idly opened an email promoting the many auction items available — and the chance to earn a spot in one of the upcoming Christmas Revels performances caught my eye. I turned 70 last January and had vowed to celebrate that milestone all year. I noticed that bids could be placed from afar. My heart began to race. This was tempting! Without consulting Shirley, I did a quick calculation of what this opportunity might be worth, what I could afford, and what others might bid — and emailed my bid.

Can you spot Susan in this audience sing-along? Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography.

I am deeply grateful to all of you for making my dream come true. Everyone reached out to me and pulled me into your circle. Naming those who helped me means I will probably leave someone out, and I apologize: I remember you even though I may not remember your name:

Executive Director Greg Lewis was meticulous in working through all the details: promising what I would get from the Revels, and outlining my obligations.

In September, I came to the offices and met the staff. Costume Shop Manager Sandy Spence chose a costume for me and I met her team, the first welcoming committee.

I was given access to the production website (an event organizer’s dream come true). I made myself a binder and read the script. When I had trouble downloading the audio clips, IT Director and Assistant Music Director Will Wurzel walked me through it. I made a playlist and began singing along in my car.

Diane and Terry Winslow in costume for their walk-on roles. Photo by Ryan Maxwell Photography.

I came to your pre-Thanksgiving Sunday rehearsal, where there was a warm welcome, a nametag for me and T-shirts for both Shirley and me. Company Manager Susan Lewis gave me stage charts and a running order marked with the scenes for which I would be on stage. I met Diane and Terry Winslow, who had also won performance spots.

And I met my stage families! From the audience, I had noticed that you chatted with one another on stage and wondered what that was about. Now I knew. I had a backstory! (Yes, I had more than one stage family. So that I could be in both the death scene and the mummers play scene, Susan had made me a townswoman who served as lady’s maid to chorus-member Jan Elicker,”husband” Jim Harkless and their stage children for the first half. They gave me the day off to be with my town family, Kerstin Zurbrigg and David Potts-Dupre, for the Queen’s entertainments in the second half.)

In the midst of her many other responsibilities, Susan was in touch with me several times between then and the tech rehearsals, keeping me posted on changes in blocking, when and how to get into the auditorium, and other important details. I had noticed some Revels magnets on cars in the parking lot, and she connected me with Business & Development Director Patti Knapp, who made sure I could buy some.

Volunteer & Education Manager Grace VanderVeer took the time to sit with me in the audience on Wednesday night so that I could figure out where I would be.

I haven’t worn makeup since I was 18. On Thursday night again Susan gave of her time, walking me through each makeup step (there are eight, I think, and I was capable of doing only the first three on my own). The makeup women were just as friendly as everyone else.

The costume team was exceedingly friendly and helpful. And I had my own chair!

During the rehearsal, I did my best to figure out where I should be and how to get there, and my stage families did all they could to help.

I relished the chance to see Artistic Director Roberta Gasbarre and Music Director Betsy Fulford at work, bringing the quality ever higher. (So did Shirley, who was invited to be in the audience for the rehearsals.)

On Sunday, as we stood behind the curtain for the opening scene, the noise of the crowd in the auditorium was intoxicating. Thank goodness I have been in choral performances: my knees didn’t give way when the curtain opened.

The performance flew by. I even got to play with the Morris women during the pub scene! I did my best to find my families on the monitor before stepping on stage, and they always drew me in. It wasn’t until late in the mummers play that I realized the townsman in the brown hat with whom I had been having delightful exchanges was not in fact Dave the butcher, my brother (or was it brother-in-law?). Thanks, chap in the brown cap!

And your kindnesses were not over with the performance. Jan was good enough to pose for pictures with me in the lobby afterward, and actor Danny Pushkin stayed in character to interact with my most voluble friend. Even after that, when Shirley couldn’t find me, Will Wurzel came looking. Roberta even complimented me on my death scene! And as we were driving home, Susan Lewis called to say she’d found my binder.

I was born and raised in Gettysburg, and still live nearby. Growing up there, it was natural to learn the basics of the famous battle, but the military side of it has never interested me. But I had grown up with a recording of Civil War tunes and that music has always touched me.

Six years ago while browsing the merchandise during intermission, your CD Hard Times Come Again No More caught my eye and I bought it. Of all things, that is what I played while decorating our tree that year. Listening to your CD, I wondered for the first time what the experience had been like for Gettysburg townsfolk. And I got an idea. For the next six months, I put every spare minute into researching and planning a worship service for the Unitarian Universalists of Gettysburg (UU’s for short). I enlisted the help of our choir and called it “What Would UU Do?” It was stories of the Gettysburg civilians, interspersed with Civil War tunes.

Now one of the things I do to keep myself entertained in my retirement is to give walking tours of the town, telling some of those stories. I am a Gettysburg Licensed Town Historian. This is another thing for which I have Washington Revels to thank.

Thank you for a peak experience. I wish you all, both great and small, a happy bright new year!

Susan Swope

If you think you might also enjoy being a guest performer in a Christmas Revels production, stay tuned for future news: Washington Revels intends to make the auction of a guest performer slot an annual event every Spring!

Join Washington Revels & Carpe Diem Arts for a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service event! We will make Valentine’s Day Cards for the elderly and the homeless, and then during our February Day of Service we will deliver the cards and visit with the recipients. All supplies will be provided.

If you wish to stay for the Community Sing at 6:30, please feel free to bring a dish to share — all are welcome to eat dinner as we make cards from 5-6:30 pm. Plates and utensils will be provided.

January’s Theme: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Legacy

Join us for the Carpe Diem-Washington Revels Family & Community Sing. This month we honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with songs of Peace, Liberty and Justice! Featuring special guest song-leader Lea Morris!

AND, before the Sing come to Seeker’s early for an MLK Day of Service from 5:00-6:30 pm. We’ll make Valentine’s Day Cards for the elderly and the homeless in anticipation of distributing them during February’s Day of Service. See all the details & RSVP here.

6:30-8:00 —International songs, Rounds for all ages, and music of the Civil Rights movement8:00-8:30 — Refreshments, Social Time, Celebration of January birthdays

Everyone is welcome to bring refreshments and songs to share. Sign up in advance to lead a song by contacting Jo Rasi (jrasi@revelsdc.org). Or just show up to sing (or even just to listen)!

Gathering at an Irish Pub for a bit of singing gives us the perfect excuse to dabble in celebratory song — so dust off your vocal cords and get ready to join in on glass-raising songs and Revels favorites, with musical hosts Jennifer Cutting and Steve Winick!

Find us again at the traditional Irish pub and restaurant that has hosted our January Pub Sings for the past 11 years: McGinty’s Public House in Silver Spring!

Head to the second-floor bar area and follow the sounds of good cheer. Food and drinks may be ordered beginning at 6:00 pm. Singing will begin at 7:00 pm and formally end at 9:00 pm, with a brief intermission. All songs will be sing-alongs, with song sheets and song leaders provided. Kids and teens are welcome — there may be a song or two that celebrate the virtue of drink, but not many. To ensure that Pub Sing participants of all ages enjoy the evening fully, we ask that parents please be prepared to actively supervise kids under the age of 13. Ticket proceeds go entirely to Washington Revels; food and beverage may be ordered separately from the McGinty’s regular menu at your expense.

Join Washington Revels Maritime Voices at the Folklore Society of Greater Washington’s annual “Mini-Fest” from 1:45-2:45 pm. The Voices will present a program of sea chanties, songs of women and seafaring families, and other songs of sea and shore on the Cafetorium Stage that will keep you singing, laughing, and learning the whole journey. And be sure to come early and stay late for a whole day’s worth of performances, dances, workshops, and more (including the Festival’s “Shanty Sing” from 4–5 in Room. 114)!

For information about the FSGW Fest, including the full schedule of events, click here.

Beat the Winter Blues with Merry Madrigals

Whether you’ve got tickets to a show or are just stopping by for a drink after work, Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Happenings Happy Hour series is a great way to beat the Winter Blues and see terrific local performers.

Before STC’s February 7 performance of Richard the Third, keep warm with Washington Revels. Gallery Voices will mix up a Shakespearean mood with madrigals about love and the coming of Spring — don’t worry, we’ll leave the mixing of the actual cocktails to STC’s professional bartenders!

]]>Raising Kids in the Revels World: Birthdays, Rhythms and Springhttps://revelsdc.org/2018/kids-in-the-revels-world/
Fri, 21 Dec 2018 22:11:04 +0000http://revelsdc.org/?p=8453Posted by Washington Revels
It’s not my son’s birthday today, but there are 40 people singing a birthday song to him (and to two other people). My son is turning 9. One of the other people is turning 41, and the other is turning 73. The song isn’t the traditional “Happy Birthday” song. There are many people harmonizing, and there’s accompaniment on a half dozen ukuleles. Sound like a good quirky story]]>Posted by Washington RevelsDecember 21, 2019(Reposted from a May 22, 2015 article by Jo Rasi, Community Engagement Director)

The author’s son at an earlier birthday, dancing in birthday crown and cape.

It’s not my son’s birthday today, but there are 40 people singing a birthday song to him (and to two other people). My son is turning 9. One of the other people is turning 41, and the other is turning 73. The song isn’t the traditional “Happy Birthday” song. There are many people harmonizing, and there’s accompaniment on a half dozen ukuleles. Sound like a good quirky story?

Something just like it happens every month at Washington Revels-Carpe Diem monthly Community Sing — birthday songs celebrate all the people who have a birthday that month. My son is glowing. It’s May, and his birthday isn’t for another week, but he has been gleefully anticipating it all month, since the word “May” to him means, “my birthday month.”

Since Revels is founded on the significance of seasonal and traditional celebrations, the idea of a birthday month isn’t just a childish notion—it is the idea that each month brings its own expressions of the season and its own traditions to be honored and celebrated. May is a good month to be a kid growing up in the Revels world, whether it’s your birthday or not. May is the time for May Day and Maypole dances, and singing in the May. For my son and his three siblings, the meanings they’ve come to associate with “May” are just part of their logical understanding of the world. Kids have a natural instinct toward rhythms, so seasons, traditions, holidays, and special days are just a way they’ve learned to navigate the world.

A community of Revelers singing and dancing in the rain.

For us adults, we may be relearning it. Our natural rhythms get overshadowed by outside forces. April means taxes. Halloween means managing the sudden surge of sugar in the house. Christmas means long To-Do lists. But Revels is about recalling and reliving the natural and historical meanings of the seasons and the months. May is a good month to be an adult in the Revels world too — an excuse to wear a flower crown and to sing hundreds-year old songs that remind us to glance up from our cell phones and notice the blooming heather (well, okay, blooming lilacs, since we aren’t in England).

Whatever month your birthday is, it’s a great month to be a kid or an adult in the Revels world. For as far back as we know, humans have been inventing reasons to mark time by rituals and celebrations. From Revels, my children are learning how to understand their small world and the big world– through new and old routines, through natural and human determiners, and in today’s beautifully interracial society, through the varied traditions of humans from around the globe.

May, like every month at Revels, is a good time for singing and dancing.

What Revels offers to all of us, parents and children, happens many times in every month: it’s the building of a moral compass, a value system, and a joyful map of humanity. If we carry that map with us every day in school or work, to the grocery store or the doctor’s waiting room, or to family celebrations, we will find the Revels joy will serve us well there.

May and birthdays are only the beginning of a discussion about how Revels grows healthy children. It’s a conversation we can have year round.

December Theme: Winter Solstice!

Join us for the Carpe Diem-Washington Revels Family & Community Sing. This month we celebrate the Season and the Solstice, with caroling in the Seekers neighborhood followed by hot cocoa, cider and cookies!

6:30-7:15 — Singing at Seekers7:15-8:00 — Caroling8:00-8:30 — Refreshments, Social Time, Celebration of December birthdays

Everyone is welcome to bring refreshments and songs to share. Sign up in advance to lead a song by contacting Jo Rasi (jrasi@revelsdc.org). Or just show up to sing (or even just to listen)!